


One Year Later

by baekblebee



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24839485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekblebee/pseuds/baekblebee
Summary: How has your one year been?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Kudos: 6





	One Year Later

**Author's Note:**

> The words in italics are song lyrics
> 
> Words in between ---- are flashbacks!

“Now let’s welcome our number one soloist on stage to close off our ceremony! Kahee-ssi, do you know that Baekhyun-ssi has not performed this song anywhere despite it being a hit in all the rankings across the country?”

“Yes, Minjun-ssi, the song is indeed a wistful one, I even heard that Baekhyun-ssi wrote these lyrics himself!”

“That’s right! I also heard that this will be his first and last time performing this song. We are so honoured to be given this chance!”

“Minjun-ssi, I think we have talked enough, everyone is waiting for Baekhyun-ssi now, we should not hold him up any longer!”

“This has been a wonderful evening everyone, once again this has been SBC Gayo Daejun, I am Minjun.”

“And I am Kahee, we hope you have enjoyed your time with us! Without further ado, let’s welcome Byun Baekhyun-ssi with his newest track, One Year Later!”

The stage was an ethereal white. The whole stage seemed to reflect a street with a road painted across the center towards the audience. Fake black streetlamps littered the side of the ‘road’, contrasting the overall white background displayed. His voice hit the audience first before he was seen.

_'It feels like I’ve been dreaming for a long time, I’ve wandered and wandered around for a while'_

Baekhyun appeared at the very end of the road, took slow but steady steps towards the audience. His gaze wandering, unfocused, choosing to smile at the audience, giving a little wave as if to thank them for the award presented to him that night.  
Park Chanyeol kept his eyes trained on the table, and pretended to sway to the beat but nonetheless remained unwilling to watch the performance.

“Hey don’t you dare fall asleep on me, my favourite artiste is on the stage now and he looks perfect!” Oh Sehun, his fellow bandmate from SKY nudged him harshly. Chanyeol rolled his eyes in response.

_As if we made a promise, standing here in front of each other like that day from four seasons ago_

If the camera was trained on Baekhyun, they could have caught the slight twitch in his mouth as he sang the lyrics.

_Those beautiful stories that we wrote down together, those eternal promises that we prayed for at that time. They’re all coming back to me now and I don’t think my heart can take it_

Baekhyun searched the audience for that one person he knew was right there. He trained his eyes to look for the familiar silhouette, one that he used to hug all the time, one that was once his but no longer his anymore. The lights glared from the spotlights, making his job a hard one. The spotlights reminded him of the stars in the sky, the blanket of stars he used to lay beneath with his giant.

* * *

“Baekhyun-ah! Look at that shooting star! Hurry let’s make a wish!” Baekhyun excitedly nodded and clasped his hands together, muttering a simple wish ‘I hope we will stay the same one year later.’ When he was done, he opened his eyes and was greeted by his overly excited boyfriend grinning down at him.

“Baekhyun-ah, what did you wish for?”

“Nu-uh, I am not telling you B, my wish wouldn’t come true if I shared what I wished for!”

“But-but...” His boyfriend gave him the cutest puppy eyes ever, Baekhyun can’t lie but he was almost swayed by those eyes, but he had to stand his ground, he won’t allow any chances of his wish not coming true.

“No buts B, now let’s go! You have an early schedule tomorrow and we can’t be hanging out for so long!” Baekhyun pushed his boyfriend who then just laughed and nodded before unlocking the car for Baekhyun to climb into the passenger seat.

* * *

_I’ve even restrained myself at the thought of you, “How has your one year been?”_

His vision became misty with the sudden flashback, he knew that the song was about his ex and the memories would hit, but he didn’t expect it to hit him so hard. He could only thank all heavens that this song was on the angsty side and people would think that the tears were because of the mood of the song.

“Damn, who hurt him so badly? It’s as if he is speaking from personal experience. I wonder who is that idiot who let him go though, that bastard probably doesn’t deserve him.” Oh Sehun shook his head, “if it was up to me, I would never ever let Baekhyun-ssi go!”

Chanyeol scoffed and shook his head at Sehun’s exclamation. “Sometimes, some things are out of people’s control and circumstances. Maybe they had to break up because of good reasons?”

“Whatever it is, I can’t believe someone would bear to hurt Baekhyun! If I ever find out who it is, that person is going to be so screwed!”

Chanyeol let out a sad smile and nodded. _Me too, Sehun, me too._

_For a long time, I’ve been living, having forgotten about you, for a while, I thought I was doing fine. However, I started to realize it as time passed by, that I am nothing without you_

Baekhyun's eyes glittered under the spotlight that shone on him. He kept his eyes trained on his shoes as he walked across the stage.

Chanyeol took a deep breath before he decided to look at the stage. Right at that moment, Baekhyun's eyes found the person he was looking for, and his eyes caught Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol hitched a breath at Baekhyun’s celestial look.

'Baekhyun-ah, you still look as beautiful as always.'

_At that time, if only we had been a bit more mature, if only we knew how we would be right now_

Baekhyun offered Chanyeol a sad smile, one that spoke thousands of unsaid words, one that only the two could decipher.

* * *

“Baekhyun-ah, let’s break up.” Chanyeol stated plainly over the phone.

  
Baekhyun sat up from his bed and laughed nervously. “Ha ha ha, nice joke B. April Fool’s was yesterday, I am not getting tricked by you.”

Chanyeol let out a sigh.

“Park Chanyeol, you better tell me it’s a prank now or I will seriously get angry at you! I am going to fly over to Canada right now to punch you!”

“Baekhyun, I am not kidding. Let’s break up.”

“W-what? W-why? I don’t understand. What did I do wrong? How can I fix this?”

“There’s nothing you can do. I just realized we are two very different people.”

“I promise I can change for you, I am sorry for everything I’ve done. Let’s give this another try, all right? Please don’t break up with me.”

“I am sorry, but I am so tired of trying. And I don’t think I can see a future with you anymore. We are both idols and we have enough on our plates. We really don’t need this extra distraction. I am sorry Baekhyun, but we should end this here and not drag it out any longer for both of us.”

* * *

_I have no confidence in overcoming these endless regrets, so I’ve had to just repress them_

Baekhyun felt the tears welling up in his eyes once again and this time he chose to look away first. It’s not fair that Chanyeol still had that control and hold over him and his emotions. It’s not fair at all that he made the decision for Baekhyun and left him just like this. How could he utter those words so easily?

_Just like this, one year has passed_

* * *

Baekhyun was a wreck after the breakup, he could not eat nor sleep properly for months after that. For a good two months, he could not even sleep on his own bed, the same bed he shared with Chanyeol when he came over to sleep often before his Canada tour.

The songs that Chanyeol once sang with him became tearjerkers as he got reminded of the memories they shared. The Marvel movies they once spent countless of hours watching became something unbearable for Baekhyun. Even though he loved Iron Man to death, he only grew attached to that superhero because Chanyeol would make Baekhyun watch the films over and over again. The last Marvel movie they watched was Avengers: Infinity War, Baekhyun thought it would be all right to watch the final closure to Avengers with his friends, but when the introductory theme song played, he began bawling and his friends had to comfort him throughout the entire movie. Even months after the breakup, Baekhyun wouldn’t dare to scroll his photo albums in search of photos, fearing that his memories would be triggered by the photos he may come across. For months, Baekhyun wondered if Chanyeol was doing fine. If Chanyeol was feeling the same anguish as he is feeling. If Chanyeol ever regretted the breakup. But how could he regret if he was the one who pushed for it? Baekhyun always thought Chanyeol was his forever and he was Chanyeol’s, but there it was in plain sight, that Baekhyun was merely just a mere fragment in Chanyeol’s life.

* * *

_Are your feelings the same as mine? Can you give me one more chance? I now know that we can never part_

Those were the words that Baekhyun repeated over and over again during the past year.

_You’re the one person I loved and still love_

Baekhyun belted out the high notes with his entire heart, choosing not to look at Chanyeol, fearing his heart would betray him once again. Right as the camera zoomed onto him, a lone tear escaped his left eye, projecting his melancholic face for the audience. The tear did not leave unnoticed by Chanyeol.

* * *

“Chanyeol-ah, do you know that tears that fall from different sides of the eyes mean different feelings?”

“Babe, what nonsense have you been reading again?”

“I am serious Yeol! They said that if the tears escape from the left eye first, it usually means they are sad tears. On the other hand, if the tears are from the right eye, then they are happy tears!”

“All right, all right. Then you better not let any tears fall from your left eye when I am not there to wipe it off!” Chanyeol pinched Baekhyun’s nose and laughed.

* * *

_I wish we can go back to our first days, to the beautiful, happy and loving days. Those heart-breaking stories and vain arguments, just bury all of that now and promise that we won’t take them out again_

Baekhyun looked at the audience and gave a broken smile before looking down. The lights dimmed to give the video the attention.

> The days without you is not much of a big deal -
> 
> Except when I walked along the road that we used to walk together, I seem to stop and hesitate more than I should
> 
> Except when I eat ice-cream we used to share together, it left a bitter taste in my mouth
> 
> Except when I hear the songs we used to hear together, I can’t derive the same joy as I used to
> 
> Except when I watched the movies we used to enjoy together, I don’t get the same satisfaction as I did when with you
> 
> Except when I looked through our photo album, I can’t control the tears welling up 
> 
> \- It’s just that when your name is mentioned, my heart still aches a little.

His voice trembled as he sang the final lyrics to the song.

_No matter how many seasons pass and how many years go by, I hope that we won’t meet like today again_

The audience erupted into cheers and they collectively shouted “Baekhyun-ah, don’t cry!”

‘For the last time, Chanyeol-ah.’ Baekhyun thought and gave a sincere smile to Chanyeol, whose eyes never left Baekhyun ever since he plucked his courage to stare at the one who got away. Baekhyun mouthed “Chanyeol-ah, thank you.” And the lights dimmed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! This song has always been my favourite duet since it was released, I don't think any other duets I've heard thus far is able to compete with the immense feels this song has given me. It has tide me through my 10s and currently my 20s now. For anyone interested, it's 'One Year Later' by Jessica and Onew (the most perfect blend of vocals!!!) I took reference from one of their live stage too.
> 
> I first posted this on 2 April on twitter, which was my own 'one year later' after breaking up with my ex. Some of the conversations in the fic were true conversations between my ex and me, especially the break-up portion. In a way or another, this was my way of finally letting everything go. One year may be a long time to get over someone but it is worth it! So for everyone out there going through a heartbreak, the end is truly near. Don't be afraid to take as much time as you want to heal. Don't ever believe that you are not enough for your ex, because you will always be enough for the right person. And if they ever tell you you are not enough for them, it just means they are not the right person for you. Live a better life to show that you can do so much better and I promise you, you will get out of that dark hole soon!
> 
> Please leave a comment and kudos!


End file.
